The self-taught Hong Kong baker behind Dear Harley in PMQ is creating mind bending cakes that are often indiscernible from the real thing
Scrolling through the “Is It Cake?” meme, which kicked off earlier in July, has become one of my recent Internet obsessions—such is the draw of perfectly rendered desserts that look like anything but cake, from bottles of very on-trend Dettol body washes to frothy cups of coffee and, disturbingly, raw chicken breasts. The original video by Buzzfeed's Tasty, that kickstarted the head-scratching trend, has over 31 million views to date. Perhaps it speaks to the part of us that wishes everything happening right now, from continuous political strife to the recurring outbreaks of Covid-19, was nothing but an illusion—or maybe we just simply love the aspect of seeing something defy our expectations. As long as you don’t start questioning whether or not everything you touch could potentially be cake, it’s a trend that has become an entertaining distraction in the days of social distancing.
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Hongkonger Alison Chan, the founder of confectionery and design brand Dear Harley, is one of our most recent discoveries. A self-taught baker, Chan originally worked as a news reporter before turning her growing interest in baking into a small business. “I never went to culinary school,” she tells us. “I learned all my skills mainly via experience, books and sometimes videos online.” Last year, she opened her own workshop in Central’s PMQ to pass on her hard-scraped knowledge to budding pastry chefs; Dear Harley, named after her beloved nephew, is a retro, pastel-coloured space where students can learn how to make unusual complex creations such as Chan’s geode and isomalt cake, or schedule one-on-ones with Chan to create their own original cakes.